The neoliberal harassment of SUS: what does the constitutional amendment #95 represents?

Abstract

This year, the “Citizen Constitution”, as it is widely known, turned 30. Enacted in October 5, 1988, it was in Brazil the pivot point of a very specific scenario, that condensed numerous popular - and from the private sector - claims, and expressed the correlation of forces of a recently “re-democratized” Brazil. It covered the catalogue of social rights, like health, which with the cration of the United Health Sistem (SUS, in portuguese abreviation), started to appear as an universal right. Those rights, for 30 years, suffered various attacks - even with the constant warning of social movements - overall in the last few years, following the 2016 coup that resulted in the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff. Thus, the current scenario imposes the political and theoretical duty of bringing to debate the attack of the capital on the social rights in Brazil. The Constitutional Amendment #95, promulgated by the coupist government, constitutes a new tax system and requires a spending limit for the next 20 years, and is the breaking point of the pact established in 1988.